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Benzos 2 months on low dose ativan/klonopin

C

Castillo

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 5, 2013
Messages
53
Ok how bad will it be to withdraw from benzos after two months. I always used a range of .25 to 1mg. I was mostly at the 0.5mg range. Do I follow the rule of "don't taper longer than you've been on the drug" or do I still do a week taper prolonging the use? Or should I just use naturals like passionflower and kava kava.
 
I don't think it will be that bad at all. I've been on 2mgs/day of ativan for about 3 months and I can go days without it and not have withdrawal. I think you will be just fine especially if you taper.
 
So what the heck are these god awful symptoms all day. Dizzy and panic in my sleep. Could it be my cortisol/adrenaline surging? Do you know how I should taper? Should I even taper or should I just stop using?
 
If you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms I would strongly suggest tapering if you have the means
 
I would taper it, over 2-3 weeks. Try .25 for a week. Then do .125 for a week, then I'd do .125 every other day for a week. Then keep .125 aside to use if you really need it. The w/d shouldn't be bad.

I stopped a .5-1.5 mg alpraz habit that lasted about 3 months this way, and I did a similar taper, but ended at .25, since I ran out of the medications. I would've tapered lower like that if I had the option. I didn't find the w/d too bad, it lasted maybe a week and I was just dizzy/spaced out and a bit anxious. I still slept fine with some benadryl. I also was just around a week to starting suboxone off a decent heroin habit, so that did not help things.
 
Ok I will give it a go. How is it even possible to have withdrawals when I wasn't consistently taking it. So frustrating.
 
Some people are more subsceptible to rebound anxiety than others.
Even if you dont take it every day. I experience rebound anxiety if i take 1mg of ativan just twice a week.
1mg of ativan once a week is probably ok.

I think it has to do with how your brain/body is wired.
Very good you decided to quit, because you obviously are one of those people who would get addicted and soon or later have withdrawal syndrome (unless perhaps tapering the drug very carefully)

Anyway, since your only taking it for 2 months it's not necessary to do a 12 month taper,
but the 0.25mg to 0.125mg taper suggested here sounds good
 
I'm sorry if I seem like I'm repeating my questions but I was thinking. Instead of doing 0.25 for a week and then 0.125, can't I just start with 0.25 on the first day (today) and then shave off a little bit by little on the following days? YOu have any experience with kava kava. Heard so much good about it.
 
day 1 0.25
day 2 0.25
day 3 0.12
day 4 0.12
day 5 0.12
day 6 0.00
day 7 0.12

i would dose in the evening, so if ur body wouldhave withdrawals it wont be when u need to fall asleep.
if one week is too hard try two week taper
 
^Yeah, a shorter taper would be how I'd do it in your situation, but there's others who think only longer tapers work...My feeling on it is, every day that you taper, is another day with the drug you're trying to quit in your system. The hardest jump is always the jump to "Zero", and that goes for everything...

If you'd been using long-term, it wouldn't really make a difference, but you're borderline as far as physical dependence goes....If you continue having problems, just prolong the taper...
 
i believe as long as u dont take anymore than 2mg/daily MAX, you arent in danger of any life threatening physical withdrawl symptoms. the withdrawl may not be pretty, it may be hell, but im sure its the cut off point 2mg max . i had several doctors who had me on xanax and klonopin, and all of them said if i want more than 2mg a day i need to see a psychiatrist. i was on xanax 0.5 3x daily, and my sub doc said any higher i need a shrink, same with a few doctors..im going by that..
 
^ I'm assuming that your 2mg comment is directed at the OP and not a general statement that would include long-term usage of benzos as well. Because 2mg and even less can surely give someone life-threatening withdrawals if they were on the benzo (I guess we are talking ativan, alprazolam and clonazepam which are all roughly close in potency although ativan is about half as strong) for more than 3 months, and definitely when they get to 6+ months on it.

deidara said:
I don't think it will be that bad at all. I've been on 2mgs/day of ativan for about 3 months and I can go days without it and not have withdrawal. I think you will be just fine especially if you taper.
Click to expand...
Going days without it is completely different than stopping completely. When I finally derided off of benzos I was alright in the beginning, but then it started getting worse until around the 2 week mark which was when it peaked, then got better each day after and was back to normal by around the 1 month mark. So the wd's crept up for two weeks then back down for another two.

Everybody is different though, and there are a number of factors that will determine when your withdrawals will start and stop, as well as how bad they will be.
 
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Yeah, I've had people tell me it takes five days for most benzo WD to actually get bad...so going to a 5-7 day detox on day one is pretty pointless, but I've met people in detox who said the worst was over after 7 days...I've never detoxed from benzos alone, always primarily heroin, but I had some long periods of almost daily use...I never noticed anything above and beyond opiate withdrawal, aside from maybe a little more anxiety...So, I assume those 2 days a week I didn't take benzos, must've been what saved my ass as far as physical dependence goes....
 
BlueHues said:
Yeah, I've had people tell me it takes five days for most benzo WD to actually get bad...so going to a 5-7 day detox on day one is pretty pointless, but I've met people in detox who said the worst was over after 7 days...I've never detoxed from benzos alone, always primarily heroin, but I had some long periods of almost daily use...I never noticed anything above and beyond opiate withdrawal, aside from maybe a little more anxiety...So, I assume those 2 days a week I didn't take benzos, must've been what saved my ass as far as physical dependence goes....
Click to expand...

I went to detox on day 3 of no valium and told them I didn't want any librium since that would just make the withdrawals start over again once I left, so wanted to be in detox while coming off the valium so that I could get immediate medical attention if anything happened, but they forced me to take the librium.
 
OH god..it definitely is not easy right now. Thanks for all the advice. Really would like to sleep like a normal person. I realized that Klonopin doesn't do much for me other than give me anxiety and restless leg. Yet when I take ativan, everything calms down even into the next day. So Klonopin is giving me more trouble..why? I feel like I should just nibble tiny bits of ativan to get over this as opposed to taking cuts of klonopin....Just thought a long lasting benzo would be better to come off of.

Also do you think I can do a zdrug like zopiclone for a fews days in place of klonopin. Thx.
 
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Would you wait till you feel stable before the next cut or would you just keep cutting. For example, i made a cut and my ears are now ringing, is that enough of a symptom to hold on to dose or to updose?
 
You'll be fine, don't taper just drop off if you want to quit. Your dose is low enough you should be fine. If you are experiencing trouble with the way you feel cut your dose in half for a couple of nights.
 
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